vițea

Forms

vițea f (plural vițele)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin vitella (“young cow”), a diminutive of vitula (“calf, young cow”).^[2][3][1] The DLR and MDA2 mark the Latin form as reconstructed, and the DLR explains the variant vițică by a change of suffix.^[4][3] Ciorănescu lists the word among the derivatives of vițel, itself from vitellus, and Scriban allows both a feminine of that noun and *vitĕlla.^[5][6]

The feminine also survives south of the Danube: Aromanian yitsauã.^[7][1] Wiktionary compares Italian vitella, French velle and Catalan vedella.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a document of 1588 that mentions 22 de vițele “22 heifers”.^[4][3] Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon of 1649 has it as the gloss of a Slavonic word for a heifer.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its sense, a female calf up to about a year old, and by extension a young cow.^[3][2] MDA2 also records it, rarely, for the female young of the buffalo.^[3] Klein's dictionary of 1801 renders it with vitula, and the Lexicon de la Buda of 1825 with Hungarian and German words for a heifer calf.^[9][10] The variant vițică is used by Creangă and in folk texts.^[4][11]

Timeline

• 1588 – 22 de vițele in a 16th-century document, the first record.^[4][3]
• 1649 – in Mardarie's Slavonic–Romanian lexicon.^[8]
• 1742 – 7 vițele văcuțe in a document.^[4]
• 1815 – the articled form vițaoa in a document.^[4]
• 1825 – Viţé in the Lexicon de la Buda.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A female calf up to about a year old; a heifer; also called vițică.^[2][12][1]
2. By extension, a young cow.^[3]
3. (rare) The female young of the buffalo.^[3]

Related words

• vițel
• vacă
• Aromanian yitsauã

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1202
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 1496
4. ^ a b c d e f Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. vițea
5. ^ Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. vițel
6. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1411
7. ^ Cunia, Tiberius (2008), Dictsiunar a limbãljei armãneascã, Editsii Timpurarã (after T. Papahagi, Ș. Mihăileanu and I. Dalametra; online at dixionline.net), p. 1112
8. ^ a b Ungureanu, Mădălina; Gînsac, Ana-Maria; Moruz, Alexandru (eds.), eRomLex: The First Romanian Bilingual Dictionaries (17th century), Iași: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, https://scriptadacoromanica.ro, p. s.v. vițea
9. ^ Gáldi, László (ed.) (1944), Samuel Klein: Dictionarium valachico-latinum. Primul dicționar al limbii române, Budapest: Királyi Magyar Pázmány Péter Tudományegyetemi Román Intézet (Klein's dictionary of 1801, with Gáldi's etymological study), p. 476
10. ^ a b Lesicon românescu-latinescu-ungurescu-nemțescu quare de mai mulți autori, în cursul a trideci și mai multor ani s-au lucrat (1825), Buda: Typographia Universității (the Lexicon of Buda, ed. Petru Maior et al.), p. 759
11. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 674
12. ^ Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2002), Noul dicționar explicativ al limbii române, București: Litera Internațional, p. s.v. vițea